Instinct and Surrender

Aleks gripped Arthur's wrist, his fingers trembling, not from the cold, but from the certainty of what came next. Salt clung to his lips, the taste sharp and bitter, but his voice did not waver.

"You have to let me go."

Arthur did not. His grip remained firm, unmoving, as if by holding on he could defy what was being asked of him. His cyan eyes burned, slitted and unwavering, locked onto Aleks with the silent force of a demand.

Aleks exhaled, slow and deliberate. "It's instinct." He said, the words settling like stone in his chest. "Everything in me will fight against this. My body, my magic, my mind, none of it will accept what's about to happen. But it has to."

Arthur did not speak. The water lapped against their legs, quiet, waiting.

Aleks swallowed. His fingers dug into Arthur's wrist. "No matter what happens..." He murmured. "No matter what I do, you cannot come for me."

Arthur's grip remained.